“I had started with a regular Craigslist ad with all the relevant info, but I didn’t get very good responses. I felt like I was running out of time and wanted to take control of the situation a little bit.
I’d seen similar [creative Craigslist ads]. The one that comes to mind was the car — they over-sold it in an 8-panel ad [“Sick Ass 1971 Honda CB350”]. I opted to do a more family-friendly version. Deciding whether to swear or not was tough. Swearing is fun! But I also think it’s overdone, and I wanted the ad to appeal to all kinds of people.
I spent the whole day putting the ad together. Cleaning the house took a while, and then photo editing and writing and assembling it took about three hours. After I finished, I was like — did I just work the whole day for a $500 sublet? But it was fun to do, and a lot of people got a kick out of it. And renting the room was a bonus.
I think I got about 30 serious inquiries and a dozen half-written sentences offering me various versions of what I was asking for. I probably got about 10-12 emails from people who were not interested in the place, but wanted to let me know that they enjoyed my ad. I am currently talking to a student in China who’s coming over to do her master’s in MICA, looking for a place to stay before the school year starts. I believe that she will be my tenant.”

(To fully appreciate all of Aladdin’s work, you should definitely check out the full-size images he made!)